Ramos' jury is selected

Wednesday, January 23, 2013 - Updated: 5:32 PM

FONDA -- Jury selection was completed Monday in Montgomery County Court for the trial of Ivan Ramos, the Amsterdam man accused of stabbing two people to death in an Amsterdam apartment in March 2012.

Officials in the office of District Attorney James E. "Jed" Conboy said 12 jurors and two alternates were chosen, and Conboy, who is prosecuting the case, will start presenting proof today.

The trial in total is expected to take two to three weeks, officials said.

Ramos, 30, of Milton Avenue, was indicted by a grand jury in September 2012 and charged with two counts of second-degree murder and weapons charges. He allegedly killed Cheryl Goss and William McDermott in McDermott's apartment on March 2.

The Amsterdam Police Department reportedly responded to McDermott's Locust Avenue apartment upon a 911 call at approximately 5:45 a.m. on March 2 from a neighbor who just got home from a night shift at work.

The neighbor peeked in the front door, which was ajar, and saw McDermott's body, police said. When officers responded and entered the apartment, they also found Goss.

Police reported there were signs of a struggle inside the apartment that took place some time after midnight, and "it was definitely a violent crime."

Ramos is currently incarcerated in a state prison, where he's serving a three-year term in connection to stealing construction equipment in February. He's additionally awaiting a sentence that's pending from an October trial in which a jury found him guilty of a home invasion on Guy Park Avenue in late 2011.